words matter
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If you want to know the fundamental difference between those on the Right vs those on the Left, conservative vs progressive, it is a belief in a zero sum game vs the idea that we are all in this together. What is Right vs Left? The Trump led Republicans reckon that some of us are more deserving than others. Those that can afford to pay for special treatment (rich folk), white folk, men, straight people and Christian Nationalists all appear to be favoured. Indeed, around the world far right groups are campaigning on anti-immigration and refugee issues. Flag waving right wing types are marching on these national exclusivity activist grounds. It comes down to this underpinning belief that there are winners and losers in life depending upon where you were born. ICE has detained Americans and set up concentration camps to house these detainees in brutal fashion.
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In contravention of the AFL media’s obsession with star players, the art of coaching demands so much more than a roster of stars. Indeed, the mysteries of coaching AFL are on display for all to see throughout the season. Why is one team so good and another side so bad? The talking heads would like to make it all about the talent of the players in each squad but that is decidedly not the exclusive reason for success. In truth, the athletes playing AFL at this level are all very good, which is why they ended up on a playing list at an AFL club. Most of these young men have been playing footy for much of their short lives. They are remarkably talented with ball skills and have honed their physical endurance in readiness for the big leap to AFL standard.
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Here is an interesting fact. Support for One Nation is highest in areas where there are relatively few migrants living. Regional areas and outer suburban electorates, where the vast majority of populations are white bread. Why then do they go on about the issue of high levels of immigration in Australia? It is not actual lived experience. Could it be because they watch Sky News Australia and listen to reactionary shock jocks on the radio? Blaming immigrants, refugees and foreigners, more generally, is a right wing populist saw. Combine this with a general underlying racism inherited down through generations and you probably get what is really going on here. Pauline Hanson has been banging on about her white supremacist views for decades and now has Gina Rinehart to bankroll her hate speech infected perspective downunder.
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AI is coming for your job. As someone who has just been replaced by an automated program this is real, let me tell you. In light of this it is pertinent to remember that Australia punishes the unemployed economically. It is bipartisan policy of Australian governments to provide below the poverty line welfare payments to the unemployed. This has been going on for decades and is one of the reasons why we have a substantial number of older Australians living in poverty. These folk cannot afford to visit the dentist to get treatment because it is too expensive and dental is not included in Medicare. This in one of the wealthiest nations on earth.
The Trump regime is attacking boats from Venezuela, blowing them up in international waters. Why this focus on a South American nation? Venezuela has the world’s largest oil reserves. The US has a great tradition of going after countries with lots of oil and administrations that don’t bend over backwards for them. Donald Trump is a firm believer in fossil fuels. His administration has already reversed much of the good work that was done under Joe Biden, when it came to renewables and the transition away from climate damaging fossil fuels. Trump is the ultimate head in the sand guy, when it comes to global warming.
Rupert Murdoch upon being questioned about Fox News and its blatant political bias defended it via these words. “It is not red or blue, it is green.” Green as in greenbacks, the American currency. Murdoch, the owner of Fox News, was telling us that the primary role of his network was to make money by exploiting the market for right wing news. The fact that Rupert Murdoch himself is a rabid supporter of right wing politics is neither here nor there, according to the billionaire businessman. I leave it to you the reader to weigh up the truthfulness of said statements. That news networks, like Fox, have left the anchoring principle of ‘objectivity’ far behind in their pursuit of viewers and advertising revenue is the real shame here. What is the point of having news platforms at all if they only tell one side of the story? It is not journalism but PR. The media and its role in our lives has been diminished by purveyors of it like Rupert Murdoch.
The current shift to authoritarianism in the United States is not about folk with too little, but is being driven by those with too much wealth and power. The thing is that amassing wealth does not make you more amenable to sharing it, rather it has the opposite effect in many. People get very protective about their assets and wish ever greater control over things. A growing number of billionaires are driven by the desire to exert ever more influence and power over masses of people in America. It is disgusting really what we are witnessing in the US at the moment.
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Psychologically those individuals who back strongman leaders often feel that they need the protection of bullies. Trump voters in America, the MAGA faithful fall into this category. Why do people back the loudest voice in the room? White supremacists and racists are, when you boil it down, fearful of those they perceive as different from themselves. They want the faces on their streets to comfortably resemble their own. Far right political parties like One Nation use social media to emphasise examples of crimes being committed by Australians with dark skin, as if these folk are the only ones doing such things. This misleading propaganda rallies their supporters around key elements of their anti-immigration platform.
Crime Culture Democracy Economics Fresh Government Media News Politics Power Psychologically those individuals who back strongman leaders often feel that they need the protection of bullies. Trump voters in America, the MAGA faithful fall into this category. Why do people back the loudest voice in the room? White supremacists and racists are, when you boil it down, fearful of those they perceive as different from themselves. They want the faces on their streets to comfortably resemble their own. Far right political parties like One Nation use social media to emphasise examples of crimes being committed by Australians with dark skin, as if these folk are the only ones doing such things. This misleading propaganda rallies their supporters around key elements of their anti-immigration platform.
Crime Culture Democracy Economics Fresh Government Media News Politics Power
Psychologically those individuals who back strongman leaders often feel that they need the protection of bullies. Trump voters in America, the MAGA faithful fall into this category. Why do people back the loudest voice in the room? White supremacists and racists are, when you boil it down, fearful of those they perceive as different from themselves. They want the faces on their streets to comfortably resemble their own. Far right political parties like One Nation use social media to emphasise examples of crimes being committed by Australians with dark skin, as if these folk are the only ones doing such things. This misleading propaganda rallies their supporters around key elements of their anti-immigration platform.
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OK, the Trump regime is now live streaming public executions by firing squad. It started with UFC staged fights on the White House lawn and has descended into further barbarism. Did you know that if you criticise ICE on social media and live in the United States, you can expect a visit from DHS to your home? This is fascism up and running in America. ICE continues to shoot and murder American citizens in cold blood around the country. This huge paramilitary force of heavily armed, masked henchmen is spreading fear wherever they go. I wonder for how much longer is the Australian government going to turn a blind eye to the abominable behaviour of its ally? When will Australia say to Trump’s America enough is enough? Will Australia stand up to Trump?
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We are watching a once great democracy falter and begin its fall. Nobody has faith in the American government under President Donald Trump. The re-election of Trump was a very bad sign. The power is in the hands of the Big Tech billionaires and oligarchs. The market is in a blind fever over AI to the tune of trillions of dollars. Greed will destroy America. Here is a statistic for you, half of Nvidia’s employees are worth $25 million or more. The gold rush fever is upon those invested in the AI sector. Trump is recommending self-regulation for this runaway train of an industry. Humanity is crammed up at the back of these carriages and the edge of the cliff is nie.
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A little bird told me, a cygnet perhaps, that the numbskull driving force behind the Sydney Swans Pullman 5 was none other than James Jordan. I wanted to know whose bright idea was it to engage strippers at a prominent Melbourne hotel in season, just a week prior to the AFL Finals. Especially, as your footy team was 2nd on the ladder and in with a real chance to win the 2026 premiership. Remember that the Swans defeated Brisbane by almost 10 goals in the Qualifying Final and that Brisbane went on to claim yet another flag this year. Sydney Swan James Jordon Pullman 5 instigator!
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British royal, the former Duke of York, Prince Andrew has now become the most prominent Epstein enemy of the people. Why is this so? Prince Andrew firms as No 1 Epstein target. Andrew appears to be a complex character. On the one hand, he seems none too bright and has not managed to amass any sizable fortune. If he had a few billion, he could avoid the public scrutiny, like plenty of other powerful men on the Epstein list who have managed to do so. Andrew is fastidious about the arrangement of his large teddy bear collection on his bed, according to confirmed reports from royal staff. WTF?
There is a narrative making the rounds that goes something like this. Donald Trump was re-elected on the back of an anti-woke backlash by working class voters. The truth about anti-wokeness is a more nuanced story. Society has been moving toward a more multiracial and diverse status quo. It has not been without its issues, especially for historically entitled white folk. Learning to be tolerant of others, not obviously like you, is not immediately attractive to some. We were, however, making inroads in the right direction. Then, some smart cookie in the right wing camp thought, why not make an advantage out of what was once considered a negative trait.
You know all those gambling ads; we are subjected to on our screens in Australia? Yes, those sports betting ads that are shown again and again. They are a reminder of how f****** stupid Australians are. This is because their very existence is testament to the incredulousness of us. Aussies are the biggest losers in gambling losses per capita. Billions of dollars are lost every year. The inane stupidity of the humour presented in sports betting ads tells the world how dumb we are. If we find these piss weak skits funny there must be something lacking upstairs in the intelligence stakes. Humour is cunningly inserted into the premise to relax your purse strings. You are being taken for the soft touch you so obviously are.
I saw a reference to a published survey of Australians’ attitudes toward the United States in light of Donald Trump’s presidency. It was commissioned by the United States Studies Centre, which I imagine has some skin in the game. In my own opinion, I think that Australians do not grasp how bad America has become under the Trump regime. Trump was a bit of a joke for Aussies, over the last decade, but the penny just maybe starting to drop.
Here is a thought for you. If everyone in America, who voted for Donald Trump, was suddenly infused with a medieval oriental concern for honour they would kill themselves. Because the stain left on American civilization by this generation of voters will never go away. It is so bad and reaching such levels of disgusting behaviour that nothing will ever get that stain out. To regain face, as they say in that eastern way, taking your own life is the only viable option left open. Nothing short of this will redeem the honour of these folk or the country. I love that Japanese/Chinese intensity around this stuff!
In the United States, you have an actual crook who is president, a convicted felon, Donald Trump. This travesty of a human being is inventing bogus charges to indict those who have challenged his behaviour in the past. The dichotomies of now, sees a real crook using the US DOJ to pursue individuals who were doing their job in prosecuting or investigating a career liar and con man – Donald Trump. The truth is probably the most serious collateral damage in this whole sordid situation. Once the power elite lose all contact with the bedrock of factuality the entire nation is in major trouble. Arrogant bad liars taking the stand at senate hearings will come back and bite us all in the end.
Google search and its AI Overview is killing off the last of the legacy media news organisations. Technology has taken the news from print to the internet and now we can watch the death of the news thanks to AI. If you are one of the increasing number of viewers who simply read what the AI Overview or bot tells them in answer to your query the days of news feeds is over. You are now solely in the hands of an automated AI source for your information. Gee, I hope you can put your unstinting trust in that thing!
Christianity, like most religions, is a useful fiction to have in the background if you are interested in power. Here you have a collection of arcane stories purporting to be in someways associated with the word of God. People in power, in many places, often, refer to their own faith, as if it is a one size fits all stamp of righteous authority. That their belief in the God of the religion, shared by the dominant cohort, conveys some moral probity within their quest for power. Card carrying Christians wave their bonafides in the face of all and sundry who may question their ascendancy. The illusory nature of religion can be bent into all sorts of shapes.
I am, by choice, petless in my life. That is, without a furry companion to share my domicile. For four weeks, however, this changed, when I was invited to house sit on holiday in WA. Thus, the title of this post – Doggie Dementia: My month of pet poop and piss in Perth. It was a family arrangement with a sibling, she and partner were off to Bali, whilst I would hold down the fort. Water a few sheltered pot plants, turn on the irrigation system, take out the trash, something about feeding worms, and look after Misty – the Shih tzu Maltese Terrier Cross.
Here is an idea for Anthony Albanese to take up for the betterment of Australia. Ban companies that use tax havens. The PM could ensure that the Australian government does not do business with those multinational corporations who do not pay their fair share of tax via the nefarious means of profit shifting to tax havens. Microsoft does it. Meta does it. Amazon does it. Google (Alphabet) does it. News Corp does it. Apple does it. Pepsi too. Lots of them do it, as tax accountancy consultancy firms facilitate this behaviour.
